ANTARCTICA: Mary’s Hilarious Freakout During the Polar Plunge

Mary’s Hilarious Freakout During the Polar Plunge in Antarctica

As travelers, there are certain rites of passage associated with destinations around the world, whether it be hiking Asia’s Annapurna Circuit, climbing Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro, or diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Once completed (or, in some cases, endured), they become badges of honor that intrepid adventurers will one day tell their grandchildren about.

From the moment we found out that Adventure Life was sending us to Antarcticafor a week-long cruise around the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the first questions on my mind was, “I wonder if we’ll get to do the Polar Plunge?!” Mary, who you may recall has a fear of water and a dislike of cold, did not seem nearly as curious.

Antarctica XXI, the Chilean company that operates the cruise, was intentionally cagey about our Polar Plunge possibilities. Their literature suggested we bring swimsuits in case we stopped on an island with volcano-fed hot springs, which seemed a bit suspicious since I’d never heard of such a thing. It wasn’t until the day before we did the Polar Plunge that we knew it was going to happen. I was clearly gung-ho about taking a dip in the sub-freezing waters, but Mary was decidedly non-committal.

A Weddell Seal Waves at the Ocean Nova From a Nearby Iceberg

The ship was positively buzzing with excitement: Only a dozen or so of the 50+ passengers were crazy enough to take the Polar Plunge, but EVERYONE seemed eager to watch. As we gathered on the bottom deck in our plush bathrobes, the energy in the room built to a fevered pitch, until it felt like a locker room right before a championship game. The guys all had their game faces on, but we were far outnumbered by ladies whose unmasked emotions belied their inner bravery.

One by one we stripped off our robes, stepped up to have a life preserver strapped around our waist, and made like dead men walking towards the ramp that led into waters estimated to be around 28 degrees fahrenheit. Finally it was Mary’s turn, and I knew that her fear of missing out an amazing experience would eventually outweigh her mantra of “I don’t wanna!”

“Really?!?!” she exclaimed nervously as they strapped the cold floatation device around her midsection. But, sensing her fear, everyone began cheering Mary on. “You can do it!” I assured her. Gamely holding the GoPro camera on her face, she stepped towards our New Zealand guide, Ben, and looked around nervously at frigid Antarctic landscape. She made the tragic mistake of dipping her toe into the shockingly cold water, but before she had time to second-guess her decision Ben gave her a 1-2-3 count and she was in the water!

Photos by André Belém, courtesy of Antarctica XXI

Her reaction when they pulled her out, as you’ll see in the video, was absolutely hilarious: Raw, emotional, exhilarated and just plain damn adorable. Mary was the talk of the ship that day, and with good reason. It’s one thing to be bold and brave and do a cannonball that splashes your guides with freezing cold water, but it’s quite another to be scared as hell of something and yet find the gumption within yourself to do it anyway.

It’s just one of the many things that I love about Mary, and it’s also what makes us a perfect team. –Bret Love

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Fabulous! We have to admit that we did not get in the water during our Antarctic trip when we had the chance during a shore excursion, but a shipmate with a tattoo of the continent on his back did get in the water NAKED and then proceeded to do HIS BEST IMPRESSION OF A SWIMMING PENGUIN. Almost as hilarious as Mary’s dip, but for very, very different reasons…

Yeeeeeoowwww way to go!!! If that’s not GIRL POWER at it’s finest! I saw the title, and thought, “best video ever” seems to have some pretty big boots to fill – but then I read to see that you’re scared of water!?! AND dislike the cold (Dunedin NZ is the furthest south and Nova Scotia is the furtherest north that I’ve swam, and both of those are chilly to the bone!) I am well impressed 🙂

I don’t really think of myself as brave, but I am proud of myself for doing it. Icebergs were floating in the distance so whatever temperature sea water freezes is the temperature of the water – insanely cold!

Okay, I saw this, and I was like: “This is bonkers!”. My mom would not let us go into any water without wetting our wrists and chest first (to acclimate the body to the water temperature), and it has become a habit, but also made me suspicious about the whole thing with how the difference in temperature can affect your body. One year back at home, my house-mate and I wanted to be the first in the local lake. It was bloody cold, but you feel kind of committed once you’re stripped down to your bikini (he wasn’t wearing one, admittedly), so we went in, but man, I certainly didn’t stay in for more than a couple of minutes, as I could feel that my heart did NOT approve. So I’m always wondering how it works that you can take a plunge – it’s still a massive shock for your system, isn’t it? Then again, some people say it’s healthy, like the guys from the aforementioned “Polar Bear Club”. Apart from this, your story is super-great – I wanna give Mary a medal and a hot cocoa with marshmallows in, and I think the declaration of love at the end is SO nice:). Hot and cold now. No wonder.

Thanks Vera. I’d love to have a hot cocoa with you! Even though I was scared to do the polar plunge (mega shock to the system), I knew logically that a) the ship’s doctor was standing by b) I had a life preserver around my waist with a rope attached and c) there were 2 big guys to pull me in after the jump. As soon as my head went underwater the two guy yanked me back up. I think the whole process was about 10 seconds, although to me it felt like 10 minutes 🙂

Great that you did it Mary! I have spent weeks at beaches in Peru and Chile and never took a plung. The water is sooo cold and those were week in the Austral summer time. Taking a plunge in Antartica?? Not willingly or perhaps might have forced myself just for the bragging rights. They handed Mary a drink of something, which she did not hesitate to take after the plunge. I wonder what it was.

so are you part of the polar bear club officially now. I have to give you guys so much credit, I can’t jump into water over 80 degrees. I would have never been able to go through it. My husband, definitely! He’s into all this crazy stuff 🙂

Thanks you Mary for being such an inspiration! You make me ‘do wanna’!!! Coincidentally, I am also afraid of dark murky open waters and heights. When I was a teen, I went on a family trip to the Great Barrier Reef and passed out in the water while scuba diving. To this day my dad thinks I faked it to be rescued by the hunky Australian life guard. I didn’t. You are much braver!

Well done. Great video. It sounds painful but worth it in the end I think. I jumped in the water in the Barents sea (north of Norway) on New Years which was pretty dam cold but Id say the Antarctic would just shade it!Ross recently posted..What to do in Volgograd